Renewing Our Commitment to Merciful Living

Pope Francis, in his gift of this Jubilee Year of Mercy, said, "How much I desire that the year to come will be steeped in mercy, so that we can go out to every man and woman, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God!" What is mercy? "The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners" (CCC1849). Divine Mercy is the Gospel--the Good News! It is the Good News of God's love meeting us where we are and helping us in the midst of our sin and suffering. Mercy is "love's second name" (Dives in Misericordia 7). In Jesus Christ, mercy and truth have met.

Having just observed Divine Mercy Sunday, it is appropriate that we renew in our minds and hearts Jesus' call and, therefore, the Church's call: "Be merciful just as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36). How can we, busy people, live out mercy day-today?

Receive God's mercy. Jesus waits for us in the confessional. By the authority given the priest, Jesus ministers to us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) and gifts us with forgiveness, healing, and rest for our souls.

Apologize and ask forgiveness of those we have wronged. Pray for the grace to say, "I'm sorry; please forgive me." That simple act will help to bring peace to our family, workplace, school, and community — as well as to ourselves.

Pray for the grace to forgive in our past. Most of us live with hurts from our past that we find difficult to let go. Unforgiveness is poison to our souls. Jesus tells us to forgive "seventy-times-seven times": there are no limits on forgiveness. We can ask God to grace our will to want to forgive and then to forgive — both those who are living and those who are deceased.

Show mercy to our family. Do we find it the most difficult of all situations to live mercifully with our family members? We can make a list of family members and beside each name write one way to show mercy during the remainder of this Year of Mercy: a visit, phone call, note, helping with tasks, listening, showing respect, forgiving and asking forgiveness. By the end of this Jubilee Year, we will have habituated some aspects of merciful living that will make a difference in the quality of our marriage and family relationships.

Practice the Corporal Works of Mercy. These are ways Christians are called to respond to Jesus' teaching that we will be judged according to how we treat others--"the least of these": feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting those in prison, comforting the sick, and burying the dead.

Practice the Spiritual Works of Mercy. Giving correction to those who need it, instructing the uninformed, counseling the doubtful, comforting the sorrowful, being patient with those in error, forgiving offenses, praying for the living and the dead. As individuals, couples, and families, let us pray about and decide on concrete ways to practice the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy in our daily lives.

Make a pilgrimage to a Holy Door. We are pilgrims traveling His Way to our eternal salvation. We can think of the opening of Holy Doors by the Bishops as symbolic of opening the door that leads to God's merciful heart, through the pierced side of Christ on the cross (Jn 19:34). In our pilgrimage to and through a Holy Door, we are making an act of faith and can receive a Plenary Indulgence for forgiveness of sin and its effects, according to these conditions: Confession while on the pilgrimage or a few days before or after; Mass and reception of Holy Communion, preferably on day of pilgrimage; praying an Our Father and Hail Mary or other prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father; making a pious exercise e.g. assisting at a liturgical celebration, praying the Stations of the Cross, rosary, or meditation, ending with Our Father, Nicene or Apostles Creed, and prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Share the Good News of God's mercy. Through our words and deeds, we can tell others about God's love for them. Each of us knows someone who is lonely, without hope, in need of encouragement or assistance, ashamed of something in their past, in need of a prayer partner/soul friend, hungering to know Jesus, in need of a Bible and guidance in reading it; waiting for an invitation and/or a ride to Mass.

Support local charities that extend mercy to those in need. We can participate in these merciful efforts monetarily, as well as with our time, talents, and prayers.

Learn about St. Faustina, canonized by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000. God revealed the depth and scope of His mercy through this Polish mystic in the 1930s. He gave her a prophetic message for a particular time in history. More than ever, the world needs the source of relief and hope found in the eternal mercy of God. Now is a time of extraordinary mercy because "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Rom 5:20). We can read in her diary the remarkable account of God's revelations of Divine Mercy: Divine Mercy in My Soul. To learn "how we can tap into the extraordinary graces of our time," we recommend two booklets by Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, MIC: Divine Mercy Explained, Keys to the Message and Devotion, "a brief and easy-tounderstand introduction to Divine Mercy" that includes Divine Mercy prayers, and Divine Mercy Image Explained, which includes Enthronement Prayers. Both are available from Marian Press.

Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. When we pray the Chaplet, we are uniting ourselves and those for whom we pray with Jesus Christ in the Sacrifice of the Mass: "Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of your dearly beloved son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world." In particular, we are encouraged to pray the Chaplet for the sick, the dying, and for the holy souls in purgatory.

Display the Divine Mercy Image. We can "enthrone" in our homes the image Jesus revealed to St Faustina: "I desire that this image be venerated... throughout the world." In The Divine Mercy Image Explained, Fr. Gaitley tells us, "The pierced Heart of Jesus and the blood and water that flow from it are the ultimate symbols of God's love and mercy.... He wants us to let him approach us, embrace us with the rays of his mercy, and receive his healing grace and blessing.... [The image] is a 'sacramental' that draws its power from the Word of God and the Paschal mystery and communicates grace though the promises of Christ."

As we contemplate the many acts of mercy Jesus has extended to us, we invite His love to change our hearts and create us anew, to see as He sees: to see ourselves and our brothers and sisters as worthy of God's love and mercy. This should compel us to show the same love and mercy to one another. "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy" (Mt 5:7).

"As a gift to humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the Risen Lord offers his love that pardons, reconciles and reopens hearts to love. It is a love that converts hearts and gives peace. How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy! Lord, who reveal the Father's love by your death and Resurrection, we believe in you and confidently repeat to you today: Jesus, I trust in you, have mercy upon us and upon the whole world" (Pope John Paul II).

Pray for us Blessed Mother Mary, Mother of Mercy.

Fr. Knick Knickerbocker is a retired status priest in the Diocese of San Angelo.